Emergencies and safety: oral questions and answers.

A good answer covers:

• Treat it as a real fire until someone has been and looked
• Accept it at the panel, note the zone and detector, and send someone with a radio at once
• Look for more: a second detector, smoke on CCTV, other reports
• If it is confirmed, sound the general alarm straight away; if it is clear, no general alarm
• Tell the Master either way

Show me on the bridgeOpen the fire detection panel and the reports to the bridge.

A good answer covers:

• Steam from showers, galleys and laundries
• Aerosol sprays, dust from work, cooking fumes, and smoking
• Tell guests and crew what sets detectors off, and keep doors to wet spaces shut

A good answer covers:

• Only once someone has looked and given the all-clear
• The cause is found and gone, so the detector has cleared
• After the reset nothing is left in alarm, and no zone is left disabled by mistake
• Log the alarm, the cause and the reset, and tell the Master

Show me on the bridgeLook at the panel after the all-clear: what is still in alarm?

A good answer covers:

• Keep the fire alarm first until it is known to be clear
• Accept the engine alarm and tell the engineer, so someone else works it
• Keep the navigation going: lookout, traffic and position do not stop
• Get help to the bridge early: call the Master when the load is too much for one

A good answer covers:

• Accept the alarm at the panel, note the zone and detector, and send someone to look
• Call the Master
• Once it is confirmed, sound the general alarm and tell everyone over the PA what and where
• Stop the ventilation to the zone and close the fire doors, and start the fire pump
• Put the ship so the wind keeps the smoke and fire clear of the accommodation, and slow down
• Keep a record of times and actions, save the VDR, and consider an urgency or distress message

Show me on the bridgeOpen the fire detection panel: the zones, accept, reset, general alarm and the PA.

A good answer covers:

• The wind across the deck carries smoke and flame, and feeds the fire with air
• A fire aft: put the wind ahead, so the smoke blows aft and clear of the accommodation
• A fire forward: put the wind astern, or on the quarter, for the same reason
• Slow down to cut the wind over the deck, but keep steerage way
• Keep clear of traffic and shoal water while you do it

Show me on the bridgeLook at the wind against your heading. Where would smoke from aft blow?

A good answer covers:

• A fire needs fuel, heat and oxygen: take any one away and it goes out
• Stopping the fans and closing the fire doors cuts its air and stops smoke spreading through the ship
• Cooling the decks and bulkheads around it stops heat passing into the next space
• Fuel supplies to the space are shut off where they can be

A good answer covers:

• The panel sounds on the bridge and at the control station first
• If it is not accepted within 2 minutes, the alarm sounds through the crew spaces by itself
• So the watch accepts it promptly and starts finding out what is wrong
• Accepting it only silences the buzzer: the zone stays in alarm until the cause is cleared and the panel reset

A good answer covers:

• Save the VDR record so the bridge audio and data around the event are kept
• A deck log entry: times, where the fire was, what was done and the outcome
• The Master reports to the owner, the flag and others as the SMS requires
• Any equipment used or damaged is noted so it can be refilled or repaired

A good answer covers:

• Press the MOB button on the ECDIS or GNSS to mark the position
• Release a lifebuoy with light and smoke from the side the person went over
• Put the helm over towards that side to swing the stern clear of the person
• Sound the general alarm and the man overboard signal on the yacht's muster list, and hoist or show flag O
• Post a lookout to keep the person in sight and point
• Call the Master, and make a PA so the crew muster

Show me on the bridgeA minute in, the deckhand shouts. Be ready on the wheel.

A good answer covers:

• Williamson: hard over; at 60 degrees off the original course, hard over the other way; about 20 degrees short of the reciprocal, midships and steady on it
• Williamson brings her back down her own track: good at night, in poor visibility, or when the fall was not seen at once
• Anderson is fastest when the person is in sight and the ship turns tightly, such as a twin screw yacht

A good answer covers:

• Slowly, under full control, with the person always in sight
• Stop upwind of them so the yacht drifts down and gives them a lee
• Bring them alongside the recovery side, well forward of the propellers
• Stop the engines, or at least the propeller on that side, before they are close
• Recovery crew ready with a line, a sling or a recovery net, and the rescue boat as an option

Show me on the bridgeAt dusk, with a port side fall. Watch the lifebuoy light as you come back.

A good answer covers:

• The position where the button was pressed, with range and bearing back to it
• The time it was pressed and how long since
• It is fixed: the person drifts with the stream and the wind, the mark does not
• Press it at once, as a late press is already well astern of the person
• Lookouts and the lifebuoy light are still your best guide to where they are now

Show me on the bridgePress MOB the moment you hear the shout, then watch the range and bearing.

A good answer covers:

• Stop the engines, and do not go astern until the damage and the soundings are known
• Sound the general alarm, close the watertight doors, and call the master
• Show the aground lights or shapes, and sound the aground signal in restricted visibility
• Sound all tanks and bilges, and repeat to see which are changing; check for oil escaping
• Take soundings round the hull, fix the position, and find the state and time of the tide
• Send an urgency message, or distress if in grave danger; save the VDR; log everything

Show me on the bridgeThe damage control board shows once she has touched.

A good answer covers:

• The hull may be holed: refloating could let her sink in deeper water, or flood faster once the hole is clear of the ground
• Going astern can drag the hull over the rocks and make the damage worse
• The propellers and rudder may be damaged or draw in sand and stones
• A falling tide can leave her worse; a rising one may float her off. Know which before acting
• Refloating is the master's decision, after damage, stability and tide are assessed

A good answer covers:

• By night, the anchor lights for her length, and two all-round red lights in a vertical line
• By day, three balls in a vertical line
• In restricted visibility, the anchor bell signal with three separate and distinct strokes on the bell immediately before and after it; the gong too if she is 100 m or more, and she may add a whistle signal
• She is not under way, so no masthead, side or stern lights

A good answer covers:

• PAN PAN when the ship or someone on board needs urgent help but is not in grave and imminent danger
• MAYDAY if she is flooding beyond control, breaking up, or lives are at risk
• PAN PAN three times, all stations or the coast station three times, this is the name three times, call sign and MMSI
• Then the position, the nature (aground), the help wanted and the number on board, ending OVER

A good answer covers:

• The shipboard oil pollution emergency plan, required by MARPOL Annex I for oil tankers of 150 GT and over and other ships of 400 GT and over
• The procedure for reporting an oil pollution incident, and when to report
• The list of authorities and people to contact: coastal states, ports, and the ship's own interests such as the company and insurers
• What the crew do to reduce or control a discharge, step by step, and the ship's plans and pumping arrangements
• How the ship coordinates with national and local authorities in fighting the pollution

Show me on the bridgeThe SOPEP card: the orders, the report and the oil record book.

A good answer covers:

• Stop the source: stop all oil transfers and close the valves
• Raise the alarm, muster the SOPEP team, and tell the master
• Contain it on deck: plug the scuppers, lay absorbents and booms from the SOPEP locker, and transfer what can be recovered to a slop or empty tank
• Fire precautions: no smoking, no naked lights, and stop ventilation drawing in fumes
• Do not use dispersants or wash oil over the side without the coastal state's approval
• Report any oil in the water, and record it

A good answer covers:

• Any discharge, or probable discharge, to the nearest coastal state, without delay
• In United States waters, at once to the National Response Center, which passes it to the federal on-scene coordinator: the coast guard in coastal waters
• The company, through the designated person ashore, and the insurers as the SOPEP lists them
• Ship, position, time, type of oil and estimated quantity, the cause, the weather, and the action taken
• Follow-up reports as the situation develops

A good answer covers:

• In the oil record book Part I, under code G, accidental or other exceptional discharges of oil
• Time, position, approximate quantity and type of oil, and the circumstances and reasons
• Signed by the officer in charge, each page signed by the master
• Also in the deck log, and the SOPEP reports kept with it

A good answer covers:

• Starts at the datum and spirals outward in square legs: S, S, 2S, 2S, 3S, 3S and so on, all turns the same way
• Used when the position of the search object is known within fairly close limits and the area is small
• Needs accurate navigation; the ECDIS route makes the turns exact

Show me on the bridgeThe datum is ahead. Plan the square from it in the route table.

A good answer covers:

• Keep it in sight: a lookout on it and a mark on the ECDIS
• Report to the coordinator and the master: position, what was seen, and your intentions
• Approach slowly, usually to make a lee, and prepare the recovery equipment and the rescue boat
• Look after the survivors: count them, give first aid, and ask about any others

A good answer covers:

• How far off the search object can be seen: its size, the visibility, the sea state and the height of eye
• Smaller in poor visibility, at night or for a person in the water
• Normally given by the coordinator; IAMSAR has tables for it

A good answer covers:

• Sector search: a small area round a well known datum, such as a person seen falling overboard
• Parallel track search: a large area with an uncertain position, often several ships abreast
• Track line search: along the casualty's intended track when she is simply overdue